


Encounter After the Dream

by asoryuun



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dimitri is an idol and Claude is...?, M/M, mentioned Sylvain/Dedue and Leonie/Marianne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-22 10:03:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22681099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asoryuun/pseuds/asoryuun
Summary: It might have been by chance, by the simple whims of a cat, or even a fool's dream, that Dimitri meets this seeming stranger. But the way they're actually connected is just the tip of the iceberg.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 4
Kudos: 54





	Encounter After the Dream

**Author's Note:**

> tfw this was originally started for DimiClaude week and it's a month late. I promise this was supposed to be a lot shorter but it got carried away. I still hope you enjoy it. These two make me feel very warm. 
> 
> Fair warning that Toshiyuki Toyonaga, Claude's seiyuu, has charmed me as much as Claude has with his singing, so musically oriented Claude is just going to be a Thing in my fics from here on out. For maximum experience I really recommend listening to Kitten by him on youtube or spotify. It's not required, but it really is such a sweet song that may or may not come up in this. ;)

Dimitri had to wonder if he was in a dream.

“You’re a fool,” his manager had said. His comb-over was in place as usual, but frustration shook his voice. “You may be softhearted, but that doesn’t give you the right to get hamfisted about things that don’t directly involve you. I don’t want to see you on that stage right now. Go take a break and cool yourself off.”

So he did. Or at least, he was trying to. Walking amidst the crowds did nothing to quell the constant rumbling of voices in his head. Fortunately, he soon found what seemed to be a secluded spot, with a great tree overlooking a bench. There was a sign advertising a nearby show, but he paid it no mind.

Instead he sat, and he started to think. It was too chilly outside for him to feel this heated, especially when his anger gave way to frustration. There wasn’t anything he could feasibly do in his position that wouldn’t bring in unwanted attention from the public, and his image had already changed so much over the years. But it was hard, simply to sit and remember how people try to trample others. Harder still to figure a reasonable way to retaliate.

A high-pitched snore broke him out of his thoughts, and he turned his head to the bundle of white fur he hadn’t noticed when he sat down at first.

A cat?

“Have you been cast away as well?” Dimitri smiled ruefully, well aware that a cat, let alone a sleeping one, would not answer. Still, he could indulge himself a little. “I only hope your owner has the heart to try and find you.”

As if on cue, a shout rang out. It was far away enough that Dimiri couldn’t tell whether it was a fast “Hey, over here!” or a slow, simple “Oyyyyy!”.

A literal shot in the dark, as if from an arrow. In this dimly lit area, he could only see a swish of black appear before him, the figure stopping to catch his breath.

“…Finally…found you….f-fool…”

“S-sorry,” Dimitri wasn’t even sure why he was apologizing. That name was unwarranted, but he should have learned by now not to let anyone, let alone someone he just met walk all over him. And yet: “I didn’t mean to be in your way.”

“No, not at all,” the stranger was still panting, hands on his knees. “I’m glad I met you, really I am.”

Even while he was out of breath, his voice was…pleasant to listen to, Dimitri thought with the slightest rush of heat to his face. A quiet sort of voice, but one that held meaning underneath. He seemed to choose his words carefully and spoke with a rhythm that made his speech resemble songs.

When their eyes met, blue on green, Dimitri swore he saw the other’s widen the slightest bit, something akin to recognition blazing in them. As soon as he noticed it, the other man was already smiling with the air of someone two steps ahead of the flow: confident, but still calm. His eyes were a slightly different story, the fire there not completely put out.

Instead of gently taking the cat and bidding him adieu as Dimitri expected him to, the man actually sat next to him. Next to the cat, really, but still close by, and it was enough to send warmth to Dimitri’s cheeks.

“You’re Dimitri Blaiddyd, right?”

“You know me?” Not the smartest move, answering a question with a question, and one so obviously rhetorical. Dimitri was never known to make smart decisions in the face of a beautiful person.

The man only continued to beam at him, at the rate of million watts a minute. This was certainly not helping Dimitri. “Of you, yes. You’re a rather popular prince of the stage in these areas. I can’t say it isn’t well-earned.”

Oh. Right. It was stupid to think he might have any other connection to Dimitri— _did he just compliment me _? “And who might you be?” Dimitri asked in return, hoping to every god he’d heard of that his voice remained casual.__

“You can call me Claude,” Mr. Stranger said, in an airy way that made it feel like he wasn’t really answering the question. “Dime a dozen man, a better singer in my free time. But rather than talk about me, I’ve heard from a source…” Oh here it comes. “…that your initials spell DAB?”

He didn’t expect that loaded start to lead into such a question, but it didn’t diminish his embarrassment, either.

“No comment,” Dimitri muttered, and Claude’s grin grew impossibly wider. He was almost mad at the fact that he couldn’t get mad at that.

But this still struck him as odd: on the occasion he did meet a fan, they usually stuttered and blushed their way into the conversation until awkwardly parting ways after receiving an autograph. And it’s not like Dimitri was any less guilty of not contributing more himself. So for this ensuing silence to actually be more comfortable than most, even if he was being teased, was certainly new.

What was it about Claude, he wondered. How had he been able to shoot through the ice so easily? Maybe it was the familiar way he spoke, or how his eyes showed so much and so little. He felt like he’d known Claude from somewhere, but it was frustrating because he couldn’t remember. Indignant at his own ignorance, really, because it felt preposterous to have met Claude and not remember him onwards.

Claude himself didn’t seem too bothered by the silence either, even if he started humming. It was only natural to look towards him, right? He was the only one generating sound in this otherwise silent place. Dimitri’s ears—and single eye—were simply drawn to that.

But Dimitri wasn’t the only one with that sentiment, apparently. The cat had blinked its way back into awareness at the sound. It nuzzled against Claude at the sound and complimented it with its own purrs. Claude wasn’t paying attention—he gazed at the night sky, eyes shining from the stars reflected in them—but the cat was looking at him with something close to adoration, or at least as close as one could get with a cat’s face.

But with those faces both turned in the same direction, there was something else Dimitri observed. “Ah…your eyes are the same color.”

“Hm?” Claude and the cat turned to look at him in response, and the sight of those two sets of green on him was just too cute for words. So Dimitri coughed and looked away with his head, while still shifting his eyes back.

In an effort to move the subject along and prevent himself from saying something truly embarrassing, Dimitri asked, “What’s his name?”

Claude smiled. “Fool.”

“H-huh?” He had only been trying to make small talk, not get insulted again.

The smile grew wider, Claude’s would-be laugh manifesting in the form of a single puff of air through his nose. If it weren’t for the cold weather actually making that breath visible, Dimitri would never have noticed. “That’s his name.” A pause. “Well, his former name was Riegan, being my uncle’s cat, but it got confusing for this kitty to just inherit an actual last name and nothing else. No one was in a tizzy over it, until one day my friend called me a fool while the cat was on the prowl. Since then he’s never responded to anything else. And today he made me run all over calling his name after he bailed on me! Stubborn little guy, really.”

Claude turned to the cat. “Isn’t that right, Fool?” he cooed exaggeratedly. Fool simply ignored him. Seemingly miffed that his song was over, he swished his tail into Claude’s face in a movement that almost looked like it was on purpose. “Ah-h. This one still hasn’t taken to me, even after my uncle himself gave him to me years back. I guess it’s also fair when I don’t do well with his type of creature myself.”

“You don’t like cats?” It’s not as if Dimitri was a diehard fan of them himself, but he’d already tilted his head to the side and blurted out the question without a second thought. This was his go-to position for talking, anyway: he was usually more of a listener than a talker, content with letting his conversation partner take the lead.

Claude seemed to fit the mold at first, but he also had the talent for squirming out of it. While he was more talkative, already Dimitri felt like Claude knew much more about him than he knew about Claude. And it pricked at him. Maybe what seemed like overflowing curiosity in Claude about what was around him was contagious, because the more Claude spoke, the more Dimitri wanted to know about him.

He wondered if it annoyed Claude, that he seemed so attached to this conversation already.

But Claude didn’t seem to mind, only studying Dimitri. “Well…You could say I like the company of dogs more.”

Dimitri wasn’t sure what to make of the somehow knowing look Claude gave him, as if Dimitri was waiting for a treat, as if Claude preferring dogs was some kind of joke only he knew the punchline to.

“Uh…I like them too. I had one too, before, Rex.”

Claude’s face softened with sympathy. “Sorry. I can’t even imagine…I’m sure he’s okay now, wherever he is.”

Dimitri tilted his head again. “Pardon?”

Now Claude looked confused, eyebrows furrowed. It was an expression that didn’t quite fit him, as if he wore it too infrequently to really let it settle. “How long did you have him for…?”

“I still have him,” Dimitri said. Then he continued, stupidly, “Well, a lot of things happened and he’s living with some friends of mine now temporarily but I do wish to see him one day again, because he’s still my dog, and—“

He cut his rambling off at Claude’s flabbergasted look. Dimitri would have considered having him make that expression an accomplishment if he wasn’t also floundering.

“I’m sorry. I should have used my words more thoughtfully.” Story of his life, really. “Yes…Rex is living with a few of my friends at the present.” He said that already. He said that already. _He said that al—_

“I’m sorry too,” Claude replied. He was smiling now, not unkindly, and chuckling again. “I heard the past tense and just assumed. I’m glad to be wrong for once.”

“Would…would you like to see him?” The question was somehow enough to make Dimitri turn red again, something he seemed to be doing a lot in Claude’s presence.

Instead of narrowing in mischief as he might have thought, Claude’s eyes only widened in anticipation. “Sure.”

Dimitri fumbled to get his phone out, attributing how shaky his hands were to the cold. A quick glance to the display told him he still had a bit before it was probably time to head back. That was fine. He was in no hurry to leave.

“Aw, he’s your lockscreen? Adorable.”

“Yes…that was when he was only a few weeks old. I got to hold him that day, and if I cried—“

“—that’s no one’s business but yours?” Claude finished, a laugh latent in his voice. Not quite there, but better than the usual quiet puff of air he did.

“ _Listen, _”__ was Dimitri’s eloquent response, and Claude’s grin widened. “Anyway,” he tried again, turning back to his phone to salvage some reign in this conversation, “I have a more recent picture of him, my friend just sent it to me today…” There it was. Two men were in the picture, the larger of them holding Rex in his lap. The dog itself would have looked too big to be a lapdog on anyone else except for him, but the way it nudged its head to get a good lick at the man it was sitting on was pure puppy _ _.__

“ _Really don’t know who I’d rather be between them! ;) – Syl _”__ was the accompanying caption.

“Aw, he’s so big now! Hm?” Claude leaned in to get a better look and Dimitri hoped he didn’t catch the tremble in his hand. “This guy looks familiar.”

“Dedue?”

“Dedue, Dedue, Dedue…” Claude’s expression stiffened in concentration.

“He’s a very good friend of mine,” Dimitri supplied, not one to simply stand by and watch if someone needed help. “He was a singer alongside me and someone else before he decided to chase after another talent of his.”

“Is that someone else the guy there with him?” Claude points at the redheaded man in the picture, whose face was half covered thanks to the blur that was Rex’s tail. He was flipping up Rex’s ears while Dedue held the dog and avoided its enthusiastic tongue, looking like they were both trying not to laugh.

Dimitri nodded, unable to keep a smile forming on his face. “That’s Sylvain. He was part of the group as well. He was always something of a skirt-chaser, but not so much after they settled down together.”

“Sylvain? Sylvain Gautier? The guy who dominated the number one spot on the charts for whole months with “Buzzer Beater”? And Dedue…Dedue Molinaro? The amazing dancer who’s the reason people are petitioning on gardens for Tuesday to be renamed Deduesday? Those two, right?”

“I….” Was that what Sylvain’s single was called? Everything felt like a blur in Dimitri’s memory. “You seem to know quite a lot,” he finally said, raising an eyebrow.

Claude pursed his lips exaggeratedly and wagged a finger in Dimitri’s face. “Tsk-tsk. Maybe you just don’t know enough.”

It was said in such an unmistakably joking manner, but Dimitri was hardly one to take much lightly. “You might be right…”

Claude backtracked not a second later. “Hey, no need to beat yourself about it. I wasn’t serious. I definitely didn’t keep up with them myself enough to know they got together. And besides, you’re their friend. At the very least, you were part of a group before, right? You probably know way more under the surface.”

Dimitri would have liked to agree. But he was still hung up. “Who can really say…I may have overstepped some boundaries…”

Claude only glanced at him, eyes curious and the tiniest bit expectant.

Dimitri couldn’t really find it in himself to deny such a look. “Well, Sylvain and Dedue had been engaged for some time, privately, but you know how some fans can be…this was some time after they decided they wanted to pursue some of their other talents, Dedue with cooking and Sylvain with filming, in a sense. Even then, they hadn’t announced it. But there were some very observant people, and rumors were spread. Many angry fans thought their idols had been stolen from each other, stupidly…there was no shortage to the hate mail they received, whether it was to one or both of them. For stopping their career as singers, for daring to find happiness with each other…”

He sighed in frustration. “I should have known that they would not want me to worry so much over them to the point of snapping, because they’ll worry about me in turn. Knowing there’s nothing I can really do makes the useless thoughts in my mind worse. I even messed up practice today and made my manager angry. I know it doesn’t directly involve me. And yet, I can’t really help it. They’re my friends, they’re all important to me.”

This isn’t really something he can tell them either, because he’s sure they already know and would tell him so, exasperatedly. It was easier to let it out with Claude, who hadn’t known him before. But at the same time: “I’m sorry. We only just met and I’m already dumping matters on you.”

Claude shook his head. “I’ll have you know I rather like being privy to info, so this is the opposite of a problem for me. But I do get it. I mean, if anything like that happened to my friend Marianne, for example, I’d probably kill everyone in the room including myself.” Despite Claude’s light tone, there was no indication that he was anything less than completely serious saying that. “It’s only normal to feel defensive about your friends. But Sylvain and Dedue seem to be moving on and doing great in the present.”

“Mm-hmm.” Dimitri couldn’t help but smile just at the mention, he cared for them both so. “They run a cooking show now. With their cat.”

“Oh! Is it “Cooking with Gau-Due”? Now it’s all coming back to me…I’ve seen some videos here and there. Marianne just loves animals, and she’s never missed a single update.” It was Claude’s turn to dig out his phone. Dimitri politely looked away as he put in his passcode, but not before he caught a glimpse of stars dotting the sky as his lockscreen.

Somehow, seeing that alone made the corner of his mouth tug upwards and it was strange. Smiling came so easily in the last hour.

“True number one fan, unlike the people you mentioned, I’m telling you.” The picture Claude pulled up was of a young woman with blue hair pulled into a loose bun. Even while burying her face in her closed laptop, no one could miss the corner of her smile, or the hand with orange-painted nails on her shoulder. On the computer were stickers of Sylvain, Dedue, their Gauterion cat, and other animals like horses.

Now it was Dimitri’s turn to squint, his attention drawn to the woman’s hand. “That ring…” It was quite the ornate one, the silver circle adorned with a sizable flower made of orange sapphire petals that cradled a blue center.

“Marianne married my other friend Leonie not too long ago, and another friend made it for her. She claims to hate putting in effort, but this was a special favor for her adorable friends, apparently. Isn’t it gorgeous?” Claude’s smile was twisted in pride now, one side of his mouth tugged higher than the other, and Dimitri swallowed, wondering what he knew, where this matter would lead them.

“Indeed…but somehow the style strikes me as familiar.” Not that he knew any of the fine details about making jewelry. “They remind me of Sylvain and Dedue’s rings.”

Claude’s smile turned thoughtful. “Huh. Marianne’s ring is a Goneril original, and,” he seemed to have realized something. “I do remember Hilda mentioning she had a huge secret job some time back…Wow, good for her.”

Dimitri blinked, trying to catch up. “Hilda…Goneril original? You don’t mean—”

“I do mean.”

The implications of that statement really sunk in. “I really can’t believe…You know Hilda Goneril, world-famous jeweler, and didn’t think to mention it.”

“Right back at you,” Claude said without missing a beat. “Who would have thought you were acquainted with the men of Cooking with Gau-Due yourself?”

Well. Fair enough, even if Dimitri still wanted to argue that it only made sense, they were initially celebrities for similar reasons. But to think he and Claude would be connected in this way, tenuous as it was, made his head spin. “I guess…it really is a small world, then…”

Claude hummed in agreement. “That’s not always a bad thing. Things are easier to deal with when they’re small.”

“Like what?” Dimitri asked, curious.

Claude looked surprised at the question, before his expression turned thoughtful. “Like…me, I guess. I’m just one guy in this world, and I have dreams like everyone else. The sky’s so big, don’t you think? We’re always under it. I want to see more of what it has to offer, as small as I am in comparison.“ His smile returned. “I guess that doesn’t mean much when sitting next to you is enough to make me feel small, too. Do you even have a permit for that? I’m pretty sure I’m older than you…”

Claude trailed off as if that was the true end of his story, but Dimitri wanted him to continue. Claude couldn’t have been that much older than him, even if there were hints of sideburns along his face.

He must have kept looking at Claude for longer than he’d thought, because his company shifted the slightest bit, and asked, “Something on your mind?”

“Who are you, Claude?” is what he wanted to ask. “You’ve told me about your friends, and nothing about you or your dreams. What goes on behind that ever-present smile? What would make you happier? Could I?”

Dimitri didn’t say any of this jumbled mess aloud, though, and instead settled for:

“What about that earring? Was it also made by Hilda?”

Claude had two on that ear, actually, he noted with surprise. They were just so close, that silver moon and golden star, that they looked made to be together.

“Ah…not actually,” Claude answered, looking away again. “The moon is actually from my homeland, and I’ve had it since I was a baby. I got the star later on…a whim. I’m a star among stars, you could say,” Claude said, winking.

Dimitri just shook his head in fake exasperation. “What a mystery you are. You always talk like you’re joking about something, but you don’t really laugh…”

“You think so?” Claude hummed back, putting his arms behind his head.

“I’d like to see you laugh,” Dimitri said lightly.

“Oh? It takes only the best to tickle my funny bowl, you know. I’m missing the bottom of mine.”

Dimitri couldn’t help but laugh himself just at that terrible joke, already feeling like he was heading into a losing battle. But he was nothing if not persistent.

“I’m paw-sitive I can manage,” he said, placing his hand next to Fool’s to really hammer the point home. The cat hissed a bit in warning.

“Cute,” Claude allowed, letting out that puff of air again when Dimitri flushed. “But you’ll still have to do better than that.”

Now Dimitri decided to try his hand at joking. “At the very least, I wish you laughed as much as you suddenly broke into song.” Claude had only been humming, Dimitri knew, but he wanted to take a stab at poking fun anyway. Not that hearing more of Claude’s voice was a bad thing, of course.

“Hey, I’ll have you know I earned the right to the art of randomly singing,” Claude huffed. “I think having all the pitches and tones drilled into me is good enough reason to keep practicing in my free time.”

Dimitri leaned his head to the side again. “By your uncle?”

“Unfortunately. But I do actually like singing. It lets me stay still and focus better, way better than with dancing.” Claude sighed, his voice effortlessly—only seeming so, apparently—lilting. “ _Step on your feet, even if you’re swept up by the waves of people _...Easier said than done. There are times I feel like I might fare better in the sky than on land.”__

Somehow, Dimitri could imagine just that as well. But he said nothing, wanting to hear Claude continue.

Claude craned his head to look upwards, as if imagining himself there. “At least up high I’d have all the leeway I could ever want. I’ve always been told that when I perform, I always dance like I want to be alone. I tend to make not space for a partner, or something.” He paused with a frown. “I don’t…I never really realized it until I was told. And it’s been throwing me off a little.”

Dimitri considered this. “If it’s any consolation, my manager always tells me I shrink too much when I dance.” He rubbed the pad of his finger against his cheek, embarrassed at the memory. “A feat, he says, for a beast of a man like me. I just wouldn’t want to step on anyone’s toes, literally or otherwise.”

Claude’s frown disappeared.

“Then why don’t you dance with me?”

“Huh?”

Somehow that what was what broke the dam. Claude had been biting his lip. Then at Dimitri’s dumbfounded look, he let out a snort, hand reaching up as if about to clap it over his own mouth to before deciding not to at the last moment. But that was only the start. He laughed, freely and truly, shoulders even trembling with mirth. “Aha…your face, Dimitri!” Claude couldn’t even say anything past that, but the message was clearly received.

It was hard to say whether Dimitri’s embarrassment was mollified or increased: Claude was laughing, finally, even if it wasn’t because Dimitri intentionally made it so, even if it was directly at him. Even if he kept on living up to the name of fool in front of Claude, over and over. But he also wasn’t about to go away with his tail between his legs.

“Why don’t I, then?”

“Ha—Huh?”

How the turn tables. “Since you’re offering so kindly, Claude.” Dimitri held out his hand, “I’d be honored to dance with you. We could be the partner each one of us was looking for.”

Claude blinked, opened his mouth, and then closed it again. “Qu-ite the Prince Charming, aren’t you…” he finally said, looking at his phone either to avoid looking at Dimitri or to prevent Dimitri from looking at him and seeing his face. Maybe both.

Claude must have seen the time, though, because Dimitri heard him gasp. “Ah, I’ve stayed too long. Thanks for the company…” He especially had to know how awkward that farewell was, but he moved on regardless. “Come on, Fool.” He made a grab for the cat just as Dimitri moved his hand away, but they somehow still managed to meet in midair, the brush of their fingers sparking even through the gloves they both wore.

The two of them froze for a split second, and that was enough for Dimitri to throw all caution to the wind and reach out further.

“Can…can I see you again?”

Claude had already looked so surprised when Dimitri grabbed his hand for real. Not hard enough to hurt Claude, but it certainly brought him back to reality. The question only made his eyes widen, on par with the moon they had just been looking at,

When Claude didn’t answer immediately, it was slowly starting to hit Dimitri, just what he was doing. But he couldn’t quite bring himself to let go of Claude’s hand yet, when he could feel its warmth through the cloth of his glove.

“I, uh…” It wasn’t unusual for Dimitri to fumble his words; it was completely something else to hear that from Claude. “You…really like looking at my face, huh?”

If Claude’s curiosity was contagious earlier, it should have been that his current shyness would be as well. But instead, it just spurred Dimitri on, even while his face grew hotter at the line—because he really did—to see that he could also catch Claude off guard for once.

“No, um—I mean, yes—“Ah well, all the confidence in the world wouldn’t seem to untie his tongue for him despite the circumstances, but Dimitri considered it a success when Claude turned his head away with the tiniest of smiles behind the glove of his free hand, a true jewel to behold. And behold he did.

“...looking at you makes me feel like I’m dreaming.” Dimitri wasn’t in control of himself, words just kept coming out as he squeezed Claude’s hand. “So much, that I feel like if I even blink I’ll wake up and won’t see you again. And I,” he licked his lips nervously, as if that would smooth the way for his words, “don’t want that.”

Quick as a flash, Claude’s embarrassed smile was gone and replaced with an expression that really made him look like a deer in headlights, mouth slightly agape. It was gone as soon as Dimitri realized he wanted to try and remember it. But even that thought escaped at the next smile that bloomed on Claude’s face.

“ _Our night isn’t over yet, _”__ Claude sang after a pause, in the same tune as earlier. His hand squirmed in Dimitri’s, not so much trying to escape as he was adjusting to the feeling. “So you can keep holding on to that.”

Ironically enough, that was when his hand slipped out of Dimitri’s, immediately going back into his pocket as if he was trying to savor the warmth Dimitri’s hand left him. Dimitri had only half the mind to do the same.

Claude moved to scoop the cat up in his arms, and his face was turned away as he stood up. But his voice was still warm when he continued. “Come over to the show at Heron Stage and see what happens after the dream.”

He was out of sight not long after, leaving Dimitri as suddenly as he’d arrived to him. He could only watch, and wonder whether he would wake up the next minute.

There was some kind of promise behind those words, not that Dimitri had any idea of what to expect. How very like Claude, he thinks, even if this was their first meeting. To successfully draw Dimitri in further and vow to surprise him in one breath just seemed fitting for the man dancing under the sky and wishing he could reach even higher. If this encounter was real, if Claude was a star shooting out in the dark, then Dimitri knew what his wish was.

He simply had to chase after it.

Heron Stage wasn’t too far, especially with Dimitri’s long legs, but impatience still goaded him on and continued to settle in his chest, pumping his heart faster along the way.

The MC was a lady around Dimitri’s age, her orange hair tied in a loose side ponytail. Flowers of a similar color decorated her choker, complementing the blue orb at the center of it and her suit in turn.

“It is an absolute honor to welcome you all to Heron Stage to celebrate this performance of my dear friend: Claude Riegan, who’s spent ten years out of the country steadily training his voice, and his official debut on the stage!”

The room was slowly bathed in darkness, Dimitri’s brain processing this information. He himself had debuted a while back, more than five years ago. The name itself didn’t ring a bell, but there was other information between the lines that sounded vaguely familiar. Could he and Claude—

“ _From the day I met you _,”__ Time seemed to stop for Dimitri at that voice. _"I became strong.”_

A piano started playing. A cue for the lights to really beat down on the stage, bright not for their own capacity, but on the man they focused on. Claude stood straight, microphone in hand and a smile on his face.

Near the middle was where the piano stationed, the spotlights strategically made to shine so the focus would be on Claude and not the pianist. Still, Dimitri caught a glance at the ring on their hand, the orange flower petals encasing the blue center. It really was a small world, he thought, smiling when he remembered Sylvain’s own black ring cradling a jeweled lotus and Dedue’s alexandrite, cut so it would shine as many colors as it could, the pattern of lights almost resembling a chess board.

Claude’s own earrings sparkled in response. He paced as he began, voice filling every crevice of the room. “ _Cloudless sky, there lays sleeping on the warm bedside, _”__ here he turned his head and a spotlight was shone directly on Fool dozing peacefully on the very edge of the piano. _“…our kitten.”_

He spared a fond smile for the cat before turning back to the audience.

“ _I don’t cry very often, but I wish I could talk to you again… _”__

Dimitri couldn’t really be blamed for thinking Claude’s gaze shifted just so he could look right at him while he sang that and echoed his parting sentiments perfectly, could he?

“ _Will it be fine later? _”__

The wink Claude gave made his stomach jump and think, no, he knows exactly what he’s doing. And Dimitri was all but helpless to keep watching and see what Claude might do next.

Helpless, maybe, but not at all unwilling.

The song’s tone dipped into some melancholy. Claude effortlessly adjusted his expression and voice to match. His eyes were closed, their illumination gone and shadow cast on his face just from that.

“ _Every time I start something new, I feel frustrated and blurred. _”__

Claude had disappeared from the business for a good five years. What could he have gone through? Leonie—he’s pretty sure it was her at least—had said it was for training, but was that all to it? Where had he been before?

That was when Claude reached out, fingers splayed in air as if making room for another hand to fill the spaces in between them. “ _When I met you, it made me forget my pain and anxiety... _”__

Dimitri’s fingers twitched in response. It almost felt like Claude had once again taken the words right out of his own mouth. Almost. It’s not as if everything could be forgotten, for either of them, but rather…there was something else that deserved nothing but his undivided attention at the moment.

Claude grinned at him, seemingly. “ _If I change your lonely profile to a smile, someday we’ll know the meaning of loving. _”__

There it was again, a tug almost in the voice of a promise. Dimitri wasn’t reading too much into this, was he? He had time to mull it over, with the next part of the song being instrumental. Even so, Claude did not remain silent during it: he strode over to the piano in time with its notes and picked up Fool, cooing to him all the while as if his drawn out hums and sighs were a lullaby. He just couldn’t seem to help it, needed to fill in surrounding sound with his own, and it warmed Dimitri to hear.

Fool for his part seemed understandably content with his position. He cuddled as close as possible to the source of the music he loved so, and Dimitri couldn’t help but want as well when Claude smiled at the feeling.

It was almost like Claude had heard his silent envy, somehow. “ _From the day you met me, _”__ there was no mistaking that finger: it was pointed right at Dimitri, even while he was among the audience, _ _“_ You're stronger.”_

For the following line, Claude took center stage, his free hand square on his heart, the buildup palpable. He tossed his head to the side, not only exposing his neck but also bringing attention to the moon and star on his ear. Seeing them clink the way they did together made something else click in Dimitri’s mind.

\--

“Why are you crying?” he remembered saying to overflowing green eyes under a great tree.

There was a sniffle from the other boy. “I don’t want to leave. I want to stay here, but my uncle wants me to leave and do more singing somewhere else. And I said I wouldn’t cry…” He buried his hands in the white cat he was holding, making his headband askew and jostling his moon earring. The cat mewed softly in response, pawing at him but not defensively.

He was never good with words, and so he touched at his own ear. “I like singing too…I wanna hear you sing…”

“Okay…?”

For Dimitri’s part, it was just instinct. He held out his own earring, with a star at the end. The boy before him stopped crying, but now he just looked confused. He tried again. “My mom got really mad when I lost the other one. You always see the moon and stars at night, they look so nice together…”

The boy’s eyes were completely dry now, and he took the earring. “I won’t lose it.”

They looked at each other for a long time. He liked the brown messy curls he sees under the blue and yellow headband, and felt a little self-conscious when he knew his long blond hair was being examined in turn. But they were both smiling.

Neither of them noticed the cat’s annoyance at the scene at first, until the boy with the headband shouted at a paw raised.

“No!”

Too late. The cat had scratched his eye, the owner’s cry ignored.

“Sorry! I know he doesn’t like dogs, but—“

“He doesn’t like me…” Of course his eye hurt, but the rejection from such a cute kitty stung just as much, and he couldn’t help the tears.

“Y-you can’t cry! Or I’ll cry again too…” A rather hard request for his two kinds of pain, yet he’d still do his best if someone was depending on him.

The cut on his eye wasn’t deep enough to bleed, but it still hurt enough to make him close it anyway. He probably looked like he was winking when he said, “You can’t cry either. You’ll come back here, right? After you practice singing a lot? I want to hear it when you’re really, really ready.”

The other boy shook his head, moving the earring he had along with it and clutching the one given to him closer. “I’ll show you,” he had said with a shaky smile.  
  
\--  
  
“ _I met you, _”__ Claude breathed, voice reaching such high notes Dimitri felt his breath hitch in sync, _“and found compassion. Thank you so much..."_

As the piano’s notes quieted down, Claude brought Fool’s face close to his, green eyes alongside their doubles.

“ _Let’s live carefully from now on…beloved kitten…_ ”

He punctuated that final line with a gentle kiss to the cat’s nose, eliciting a wave of “aww’s” from the audience. Dimitri would have joined in, but the sight put a lump in his throat, his heart tightening along with it.

The applause, well-deservedly, lasted a long time. At the very least, Dimitri had the mind to contribute here as best as he could. Claude bowed deep, still holding the tabby close. When he raised his head, his eyes immediately drew to Dimitri’s. So maybe Dimitri wasn’t imagining the performance at least partially being for him, and couldn’t hold back a smile. Claude’s cheeks, already flushed from exertion, seemed to grow pinker. He must have been the one seeing recognition in Dimitri’s eye now, his grin somehow both cheeky and coy as he buried his face into Fool’s fur.

Maddeningly mesmerizing. Dimitri hated that he had to blink.

“It’s time for me to take my final bow for today,” Claude called out, having finally raised his head, “The dreams of men—of anyone—may not amount to much on their own, but I challenge you all to surpass them, and have an especially good night.”

The audience gave a final set of cheers before slowly filtering out of the building. Claude in turn inched towards the side exit of the stage as the ruckus died down. He gave a final, flourished salute, a gesture resembling a peace sign even though the two fingers used were kept together, before he disappeared.

Or seemed to.

Dimitri was about to look away and sigh, lamenting that it was over and readying himself to return, Alone. He wasn’t ready to simply up and leave. The stupor Claude’s performance—Claude, even—wouldn’t fully leave him yet. Not when he only just remembered everything.

But then he saw a tiny flash of white out of the corner of his eye and swiveled his head to look.

A single, familiar white paw had slid out from behind the curtain and waved with the help of an equally familiar brown hand. The hand repeated the movement on its own before jerking its thumb towards the other side of the stage, where the stairs lay.

Well, that was an invitation if nothing else. Dimitri just laughed, loud enough for it to echo in the nearly empty room, and followed.

The dream was over, the secret out. He was no longer floating on the little white lie that their meeting was one between complete strangers: supposedly a fan to their idol. After that awestriking performance, he had to wonder who was actually who.

Perhaps they would figure that out along the way. Dimitri was only all too grateful to be brought back to this earth, even from the cherished moon and stars, if it meant he could encounter Claude again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Some extra infos:  
> Sylvain and Dedue had a summer wedding: Sylvain really hates the summer, so he figured he should have two things to make it better: his birthday and his wedding. Leonie works various odd jobs but does her best to make time to see Marianne's performances. Rather than a ring, she wears their marriage symbol on her choker along with a charm she received from her mentor. 
> 
> I took liberties with what Google Translate gave me, but I do still hold that Kitten is one of the sweetest songs I've heard. Another Tosshi song made reference to is Yumenoato, which contributed to the title. Encounter is another, and both are very cute. If you're interested, please give any of them a listen!
> 
> Dunno if anyone could tell, but I love Claude very much. Hit me up on Twitter @cIaudevain (with a capital "i") to talk about him! Or just say hi, that's fine too.


End file.
